Dark Angel Chronicles
by Jedi Master Misty Sman-Esay
Summary: Fics that take place between and sometimes in the chapters of Dark Angel. In this chapter Tarkin voices his opinions on Lord Vader's lack of a nanny droid and potentially makes a new enemy in the form of a toddler.
1. Delivery

Hi everyone! This takes place between the first and second chapters of Dark Angel

xxxxxxx

Rex, Fives and Jesse stood in the entrance room to the barracks the housed the 501st. They hated these days of inaction when there was nothing to do but sit around and wait for the Emperor to decide when Lord Vader was ready for combat again.

Suddenly the door opened. The three men stood to attention, hoping that the waiting was over at last. But it was only a tall human male with longer than normal black hair carrying a crate with holes in the sides, the sort used for transporting small animals and some kinds of fruit. Rex narrowed his eyes, wondering what was in the crate.

The man set the crate on the floor and looked at them. "This is for Lord Vader. It's time sensitive so make sure that he gets it quickly." With that the man turned and left.

The three men blinked several times before Rex and Jesse raced after the man. Once they were outside they saw a tall figure walking across the plaza. Quickly they raced after it; only for the figure to disappear into the busy walkways of Coruscant.

Rex felt his heart pound in his chest. Did the crate contain a bomb? "_Jesse, you and Rex better get back here."_ Fives voice said over Jesse's commlink. "_I just found out why what's in the crate is time sensitive."_

Rex looked at Jesse before the two hurried back to their barracks. "Fives?" he called as they reached the entrance. Rex's mouth fell open at the sight of Fives holding a child carrier in one hand and a data pad in the other. At that moment the child carrier made a whimpering noise.

"It's a baby." Fives said. "It started crying so I opened the crate and there it was with the data pad on it."

Jesse hurried over and took the child carrier from Fives and started to tend to the baby. "Contact Lord Vader and let him know that he needs to come here at once!" Jesse said into his commlink.

"_Yes sir!"_ The man on the other end said.

"How old do you think it is?" Fives asked Jesse.

"I would say that it is about a week old, maybe two weeks." Jesse replied, jiggling the infant in the hopes that the movement would calm it. The child's whimpers turned into wails.

Rex peered into the crate and retrieved a bag that was in it. It was full of infant supplies and clothes. "What do you suppose it wants or needs?" Rex asked as he dumped the bag onto the floor. He sorted through packets of formula and bottles, diapers and cleaning supplies, clothes and some toys, hoping to find an infant instruction manual.

"What is going on here?" Lord Vader's voice asked. The three men jerked slightly. They hadn't heard him enter and his voice had a slight artificial quality to it now.

"Sir, some man left this baby here. He said that it was for you." Rex explained.

Lord Vader stared at him for a few moments before turning to Fives and Jesse. Fives handed him the data pad which Lord Vader read. Suddenly he stood straighter and stuffed the pad into a pocket in his black cloak. Then ever so gently he took the baby from Jesse and rocked it back and forth. He then started singing a soft song that was in a language that none of the soldiers recognized. The child quieted and stared up at the veiled face of Lord Vader.

"My little Angel." Lord Vader whispered to the child as he held it closely. "I swear that I will do everything in my power to protect you from harm."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

That's it . . . for now!


	2. Runaway

Hey everyone!

I'm so glad that everyone got some amusement from Vader singing to baby Angel. Something worthy of GalVid. Although the posters and the camera people wouldn't live long afterwards. To clarify Vader is suitless in Dark Angel so he's suitless in this as well.

Again this takes place between the first and second chapter.

xxxxxxx

Lord Darth Sidious watched as his loyal guards dragged Lord Vader before him. The ungrateful wretch had tried to run away from him and the Empire.

He had ordered his guards to hunt him down and bring him back; they found him quickly.

He had decided well ahead of time what Lord Vader's punishment was and he was quick to deliver it. A syringe sank into the runaway's neck and released it's contents. Vader yelped in shock and pain. Vader wouldn't realize until later what had been done to him and only he, Sidious, could reverse it.

Lord Vader glanced up from the floor and met his eyes.

"I am very disappointed in you Lord Vader. I should take the brat away from you if she has so unseated your reason that you think to defy me," he hissed at his apprentice. Vader held the child closer to his chest, as if to protect her from harm.

Sidious laughed at his foolish apprentice. "One day there will come a time when you can't protect her from me," he told Vader. He reached out and touched the baby. She howled in pain and Vader flinched. "Be grateful that I didn't decide to have you kill her. She will be of use to the Empire. I have seen it," Sidious felt the urge to laugh as he informed his apprentice. He knew Vader would not want to hear it.

Vader lowered his gaze, but Sidious could feel the fear and shame rolling off his apprentice. It was something that made him both angry and pleased. Sidious waved his hand and his guards reappeared. "Take Lord Vader to his chambers and make sure that he stays there." The guards nodded and hauled Vader to his feet and led him to the door of his private chamber.

"Oh and Lord Vader. Eat well and take care of yourself. And remember this: only I can remove what I put into your system." Sidious called after them. After Vader was gone, he allowed himself to indulge in the cackling laughter he had been holding back. No, Vader would not challenge him again. His attachment to that child was the chain that would hold him at bay for the rest of his miserable life.

xxxxxx

Well, I guess if Sidious wasn't evil before now then he certainly is now.

As for what he put in Vader's system . . . let's just not say but that it's embarrassing for a guy.


	3. Trouble

This takes place shortly after the first chapter of Dark Angel.****

xxxxxxxxxxx****

Bail Organa sat in his office trying to work but failing. ****

Leia's funeral was two days ago and he couldn't stop thinking about it. Part of him hoped that the mysterious woman hadn't been holding Leia in her arms when she took the plunge but everything pointed to the fact that Leia had been there and that she had fallen to her death.****

Suddenly the door to his office opened and one of his aides, Meeka, stood there. "I very sorry but there is a man and several droids here to see you," she reported.****

**"**Send him in." Bail said, standing up. He was curious. Who had come to visit and what did they want?****

A minute later the door opened again and a rather tall man with blond hair came in with analyst droids.****

Fear gripped Bail's heart for a moment. A sense of foreboding filled him.****

**"**Viceroy, I am Ric Joi of Reca" The man, Ric Joi. said. Bail nodded. Reca was a planet not too far from Alderaan.****

**"**Our office received an alert two days ago. A missing woman was tagged as dead and we need to confirm her identity." Ric said simply.****

Bail watched as Ric reached into a pouch and produced a holodisk.****

**"**A day before you brought home the girl you and your wife were going to adopt, a woman named Kira Stardust was in a speeder accident. She and her infant daughter were rushed to the hospital. According to the medical records the baby died of injuries. It also stated that the mother was not to see the body. Kira refused to believe she had lost her beloved daughter, since she had just given birth to the child a few days before. Said daughter was the only thing she had left of her husband, who had died in a terrorist attack.****

**"**On the day you and your wife were publicly displaying the infant you were in the process of adopting, an on-duty nurse assigned to Kira's room reported that she grew agitated when the child was displayed. She starting pointing to the screen and screaming: 'they have my baby'.****

**"**The next day some people came to speak to her and after that she was released from the hospital. She disappeared after that and we put an alert out for her." Ric finished.****

Ric activated the disc and Bail watched in horror as the abductor appeared in the air. Now, at least, he knew why the woman had tried to steal poor Leia.****

**"**Tell me Viceroy, is there any reason that your ship stopped on Reca that day?"****

Bail's blood froze in his veins. This man was implying that he had abducted this woman's child. "Our ship needed to refuel." Bail answered. It was the truth; they had needed to refuel and Reca had been the best place to stop and refuel without much trouble.****

**"**According to the logs of the refueling station you had enough to get to Alderaan." Ric said. "To make matters more suspicious one of your officers was seen purchasing items for an infant that was only days old while your ship was being refueled and you were there for some time before moving on. Long enough to have been given Leah Mayra Stardust and to have bribed the whole staff of the hospital to keep their mouths shut and lie to Kira Stardust."****

Bail stood, livid that someone was suggesting such a thing and fearful that the secret would be discovered.****

**"**I did not abduct that woman's child. The child my wife and I were in the middle of adopting was a war orphan. We decided to refuel early because with everything unsettled by the war it would have been a tragedy to lose my wife and child because we ran out of fuel trying to evade some criminal when we were nearly home. Besides why would I need to abduct someone else's child?" he demanded. "I have the money and the standing to adopt legally. I have no need of child abduction to get myself a daughter."****

Ric Joi deactivated the hologram. "I've seen people like you: rich and powerful. If you can't have what most beings have then you simply take it from others," Ric hissed, angry. "It wouldn't be the first time that the House of Organa has abducted another's child."****

Bail sighed. It was an old story. Over a thousand years ago the House of Organa tried to adopt a child only to discover that not only were the child's parents still alive but that the child had been abducted. According to the rumors, the parents told the king and queen that if the Royal Family took another one of their descendants that Alderaan would be destroyed. Personally Bail didn't believe in such nonsense but you never knew sometimes.****

**"**Besides," Ric said moving slightly. "You never registered the soon-to-be-princess's DNA. I find that rather curious, don't you? It would have been quickly flagged this close to Reca if she was the missing child. And little Leah Mayra Stardust's body wasn't in the morgue and it hadn't been cremated or sent to a funeral planner, so you do the math, Viceroy. If you add everything up, the case against you is pretty solid." ****

Bail felt trapped and he didn't like the feeling. He had no doubt that he could prove his innocence, but he was less certain that he could do so without giving away Leia's true identity and giving the Emperor the excuse to remove him from power and elevate a puppet in his place. And at the worst, the Emperor might look further and discover that Leia was not an only child. It would be disastrous. "I would never take another's child from them. Not while both parents were alive." Bail said as calmly as he could. He told himself it wasn't a lie, though he knew that if Anakin was still alive, after what he did, he would not have turned over an innocent child to such a monster. ****

**"**Kira Stardust's husband was killed during the war." Ric said coldly. "She was a refugee from the Outer Rim brought to Reca. She was a talented mechanic and could read people quite well. Besides Viceroy just because one parent is dead, it does not mean that a child should be taken from the surviving parent." Ric said coldly.****

Silence fell for several moments. Bail could see that nothing but solid evidence would shake Ric Joi from his conviction and he had no intention of making things worse by continuing to protest and perhaps say more than was safe to share.****

**"**I will discover if that baby died or not. If yes, then I will find out where her body is and if she is still alive, I will find out who took her and make him pay to the full extent of the law." Ric whispered softly.****

Bail watched with some trepidation as the man and the droids left his office. Ric Joi was too driven. If he searched for the truth hard enough, he just might find it. And if he did discover the truth, he might report it to the Empire.****

He would have to risk it. Legally, there was nothing he could do to stop him and if he took him out by illegal means, it would only draw further attention to the situation. Still, he knew there would be a lot of sleepless nights ahead.****

xxxxxxxxx****

There will be more on this later****


	4. Safe

This ties up the third chapter, Trouble.****

Ric isn't a bad guy. He's just mad about something. I can't tell you what just that you have to be patient.****

xxxxxxxxxxxx****

Breha Organa watched as Ric Joi paced the floor of one of the many sitting rooms of the Alderaanian Palace.****

Something about him made her uneasy but at the same time he invoked curiosity. He was mysterious. He rarely spoke and when he did it was to talk about how he was going to find out the truth. Breha found herself wondering what had happened to him to drive him so. Did he loose a loved one and was their child stolen? Had he worked on a similar case?****

Breha just hoped that this matter would be resolved soon. This whole thing was taking a toll on her husband Bail. ****

**"**CSI-221," Ric snapped suddenly at one of the analyst driods. "We need to know whether or not this child was Leah Mayra Stardust. If she was, then arrests need to be made. If not then other leads must be found and properly investigated." ****

Breha let her mind wander. She had been released from the Medical Wing of the Palace eight days ago, Leia's funeral had been six days ago and Ric Joi had been investigating for four days.****

At that moment Bail came in, paler than a ghost. "What is it?" she asked. Had other investigators turned up? Had they found evidence that condemned Bail?****

Bail just went over to a Holonet projector and activated it. He selected a file and soon an image of the Emperor appeared with Lord Vader: a man that the Emperor had made his Second and appointed in charge of the Imperial Navy and Army.****

The Emperor was saying something about having complete faith that Lord Vader could continue his duties even though he was taking care of an infant. A frown crossed Breha's face. Why did Lord Vader have a child? Was it his? Was it a child spared from the carnage at the Temple?****

At that moment Ric Joi's commlink chirped. "Yes?" he asked. **"**_Sir, we have found another lead for the missing child, Leah Mayra Stardust. We are pretty sure that she was taken for a black market adoption."_A woman's voice reported on the other end. **"**_If you find nothing on Alderaan please check out the Acaras of Napaj Prime." _****

**"**Undersood." Ric Joi saidand he deactivated the commlink and replaced it in it's pouch.****

Suddenly an analyst droid came in. "Sir, we found some hair from a newborn. It's a negative match for Leah Mayra Stardust and it doesn't match any of the human workers at the palace," It reported.****

Ric nodded. "I apologize for the trouble I have caused your Majesties. I hope that in time you will open your home to another child that needs a loving home." With that he left with the analyst droids.****

Breha watched him leave in shock. He was acting as if nothing had happened. But that just must be how he was.****

xxxxx****

The man known as Ric Joi sighed as he boarded his ship and lifted off. He plotted a course for Napaj Prime and then entered Hyperspace.****

**"**You should have been nicer to him." A woman's voice said. "Taking your anger out on him wasn't part of the plan."****

**"**I'm sorry, my love, I had not planned on doing what I did, but once I felt his emotions I lost control of mine."****

The woman came forward and planted a kiss on his cheek. "It's a good thing that I love you Ric Joi or you might be sleeping in the Tot house tonight.****

Ric smiled. "Yes it is Ki-" He started to say only to be cut off by a kiss.****

xxxxxxxxxx****

This part is done with. We will not be seeing Ric Joi again.****

I commend you if you can figure out what happened.


	5. Attempted Kidnapping

Once again this takes place between chapters one and two of Dark Angel.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Lord Vader held his daughter close. He had just finished feeding her and was getting ready to put her to bed. She whimpered as he gently set her in her 'crib' and secured the netting over the top. He wasn't expecting turbulence but he wouldn't take any chances with the safety of his angel.

Soon though she was fast asleep, her stomach full of warm milk. Vader longed to join her in sleep on his own bed but he hadn't had a night shift in several days so it was probably time to crack the proverbial whip.

Turning to the nanny droid that he had gotten shortly before he left on his first space mission as Darth Vader, he told her. "Keep an eye on her until I return."

"Yes Master," she replied simply.

"Comm me if she needs to be fed," he added worriedly. He had reprogrammed the nanny when he got her, but he still worried that it would try to be too helpful. His Angel would only take food from him.

"Yes, Master." She responded patiently

"She will be here when you return; if she is not then I will be a pile of scraps," she informed him placidly.

"You're a good nanny," he told her. With that he left his quarters and headed to the Bridge. It wasn't until he arrived that he realized that he was completely sore from the day's work. Ignoring his discomfort, he took his place at the ship's forward viewports and stared out into space.

xxxxx

Krys Nyce and his companions carefully made their way to Lord Vader's quarters, which some lowly lieutenant gave them directions to. Krys loved lieutenants: snap orders at them and they would assume that you had authority to do so. They pressed the chime and waited. The door was opened by a nanny droid, which Nica slapped with a electric disruptor. The nanny droid sparked and fell over and Cin quickly dismantled it so that it couldn't bother them during this operation.

Once the droid was out of commission they made their way into the sleeping area of the quarters. There in a special niche in the wall, baby Vader slept.

Krys made a gesture and Tayla hurried over and undid the netting and pulled the sleeping baby out of her 'crib'.

No sooner did she pick the baby up then the child started to wail.

xxxxxxxxx

He was barely resisting the urge to nod off. He had slept on his feet before when he felt his daughter's distress through the Force. He retrieved his commlink and punched in the code for the nanny droid.

There was no answer.

Vader frowned. The nanny droid never let the commlink just beep. Feeling his little angel's distress climb, he turned from the viewport and hurried for his quarters. Once he was inside he froze for a second at the sight of the nanny droid on the deck, dismantled.

He raced into the sleeping chamber. His eyes darted to the niche where his baby should be sleeping only to find the netting he had secured only an hour earlier was loose, his angel gone.

Rage boiled up inside of him. How dare they take his daughter!

"Lock the ship down!" He barked into his commlink. "Nothing leaves this ship until I say so! Tractor any ships that have left back into the hangar!"

_"Yes sir!"_ The officer replied.

Reaching into the Force he pinpointed a cluster of presences that seemed more tense then normal and headed for them.

xxxxxxxxxxx

She was confused and frightened. Whoever was holding her wasn't daddy. None of them felt like daddy or daddy's friends.

She wailed again as loud as she could in an effort to bring her daddy to her side.

xxxxxxxxxx

Rex raced through the ship with a squad of troopers. Somewhere was the daughter of his general in the hands of dangerous Rebels. He prayed that she would be rescued unharmed.

Finally he and his men closed in on the last known location of another group of troopers. The smell of burned plastisteel was all the confirmation he needed to know that the group had been attacked and most likely all of them were dead.

A turn later revealed the scene; dead squad, dead intruder. No sign of Lady Vader. Rex quickly gestured to Nix to check on their fellow troopers and make sure that they were truly gone.

Nix squatted pulled off the helmets of the troopers revealing that a few of them were still alive. "They have her!" One of them whispered. Rex nodded to show that he understood and called for a medical team to the site.

After they acknowledged Rex and his squad moved on, praying that they would find the kidnappers before they escaped.

xxxxxxx

Krys knew that he and his little band was not going to get off the ship alive; unless they surrendered themselves and even then they might still be killed.

The sound of armored bodies coming closer to them filled their ears over the wails of their prize.

The turned down a corridor and nearly ran into a maintenance worker. The maintenance worker turned from the panel he was working on and stared at them.

He would have been rather handsome, if not for the burns scarring his face. Krys wondered why the worker never got the scars repaired; with bacta technology so advanced it would be as if the scars never existed.

The sound of the storm troopers grew louder.

"Don't move!" A storm trooper yelled at them.

"Give us the baby and no one else has to get hurt," another one said gently.

Krys smiled, here he could cause some panic, he turned to the maintenance worker, pointed his blaster at him and fired.

The maintenance worker just raised his right hand and blocked the bolt with it. Krys frowned in irritation and continued to fire at the man in hopes that it was a fluke and that a bolt would hit it's mark.

The man continued to block the bolts before switching to his left hand and making a gesture with his right. Krys's blaster was yanked out of his hand by an invisible force and into the hand of the worker who crushed the blaster with his gloved fist.

It then occurred to Krys that this maintenance worker might not be a maintenance worker. In fact the odds were that he was either a Jedi, which didn't make sense, or Lord Vader, which made more sense but not a lot more.

Krys was torn. Last group of storm troopers they had run into they had simply used the baby as a shield. But with storm troopers behind them and possibly Lord Vader in front he didn't know where to put her.

Finally he yanked Tayla in front of him; hoping that Lord Vader, if that's who the worker was, wouldn't do anything.

"Poppers!" The worker yelled and suddenly Tayla wasn't holding the baby anymore.

That was the last thing that Krys heard before nothingness claimed him.

xxxxxx

Lord Vader held his little angel close to him as her abductors were stunned. He felt very pleased with how the events had turned out although he was furious that they had gone after his little angel.

Once he had gotten some decent sleep he would question them and find out how they got aboard and if they were working alone. He wouldn't risk her safely on the chance that they were indeed working alone.

Maybe it was time to take the Noghri up on their offer to protect his daughter; at least until she could defend herself from harm.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next chapter of DAC should be up soon as well seeing that only one or two adjustments might need to be made.


	6. A Meeting with Tarkin

I bet many of you are surprised to see this and once again between the first and second chapters of Dark Angel.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Vader blinked sleep back and he held his daughter close as the shuttle came in for a landing.

It had been a bad night for his little angel. She was cutting another tooth and had a bad dream. She had refused to sleep in her niche in case the 'Shadow' came for her again. So he had let her sleep with him for the rest of the night. She had kept waking him up with her kicking in her sleep and crying. She had even woke up a few more times telling him 'no go'.

She had slept for good when he fed her at 0400 hours. She took comfort when he held her close so she could hear his heartbeat. It might have helped that she was drinking at the same time.

He felt the shuttle land and readjusted his hood so no one would be able to see just how tired he was.

"Go to the quarters that we will be staying in and search it for anything that could be of threat. Once you have done that wait for me there." He told the Noghri, Rigalish clan Rigoth, who stood not too far away.

The Noghri nodded; staying silent.

He carefully repositioned his daughter as they walked down the gangplank of the shuttle. His Master wanted him to visit the Death Star and see how it was progressing.

He used to like Tarkin back during the Clone Wars but that had faded when Tarkin complained more than once to the Emperor about him 'shirking' his duties. The man complained if he took time to put his child in his quarters and he complained if she was in the same room with them. He just couldn't win with Tarkin.

He noted that Tarkin wasn't in the hangar to greet him. Instead there was some commander that he didn't recognize waiting for him with some troops standing in a ceremonial formation

"Lord Vader, it is a pleasure to have you here," the commander greeted him brightly. Vader fought the urge to roll his eyes. This man was clearly trying to smooth things over and he was in no mood for cheerfulness.

"Grand Moff Tarkin is waiting for you inside his office," the commander continued helpfully. Vader was quickly growing to dislike the commander. Boot-lickers disgusted him.

It also didn't help that he would rather be sleeping.

"I can assign someone to take you to his office," the commander offered. Vader fought the urge to strangle the man. One would think that he was some visiting dignitary in need of coddling instead of one of the most feared man in the galaxy.

"I know the way." Vader said coolly.

The commander gave a curt nod and stood aside.

Vader started to walk past him when his daughter leaned over and grabbed at the commander's hat. She succeed in knocking the hat off. To the commander's credit he didn't even flinch; in fact he bent over and collected his hat and, smiling gently, placed the hat on her head.

His little angel squealed in delight and clapped her little hands together.

"Dada, hat!" she squealed.

Vader nodded at the commander; making sure that approval was evident in his eyes.

The commander smiled, bowed and smartly marched off.

Well it seemed that he had misjudged the man. Dealing with Tarkin had to be eroding his ability to see good in anyone under that barve. He should relieve Tarkin of this commander. Anyone that showed kindness to his little angel should not be forced to serve under that slime known as Tarkin.

Smiling under his face veil he walked out of the hangar. His little angel laughed as she played with her new hat.

It didn't take him long to reach the area where Tarkin's office was and strode in without pressing the chime. With men like Tarkin it was best not to let them think that they had power over you because they would try to use it. It would not hurt to remind the arrogant, stupid barve that Lord Darth Vader bowed only to the Emperor and no one else.

"Lord Vader, it is an honor to have you here." Tarkin said. Vader nearly rolled his eyes. Tarkin was acting as if he hadn't slighted him by making him come to the office.

"I am here to see how the work is going." Vader said flatly; cutting straight to the chase or they could be here awhile exchanging meaningless small talk.

His little angel wiggled in the effort to get down.

"Down!" she cried.

Vader scanned the office with his eyes and seeing that there wasn't anything in the Moff's office that could hurt her, he set her down.

Tarkin glared at her. "Shouldn't you be holding her?" he nearly growled.

"She is a toddler, I doubt that she has plans to steal top secret military documents nor do I see any way for her to injure herself with anything in here." Vader snapped.

Vader's eyes swept the holos on Tarkin's desk and noted that there were very few of Lady Tarkin and their children. Most of the holos were of designs of future star destroyers and other powerful starships. Vader felt his respect for the man drop another welding. He had little respect for a man who didn't value his family. Vader had loved his wife and would have proudly displayed her holo if it wouldn't have gotten him expelled from the Jedi Order. Looking back on it maybe he should have done it anyway and to Chaos with the consequences.

"The work on the Death Star is progressing as well as can be expected." Tarkin said. "There have been some difficulties but the engineers are overcoming the problems."

Vader listened with half an ear. It was always the same thing with Tarkin. 'Everything is on schedule' 'the problems that we do have are being fixed'. The Death Star was already months, years, behind the original schedule. To be fair though it had been behind when Tarkin had inherited it from his predecessors..

He watched from the corner of his eye as his daughter reached for one of the models of a Super Star Destroyer on the shelf behind Tarkin. She had a few models back home and on his ship, so he knew she would not harm them.

Tarkin noticed a moment later, but Vader was shocked at his response. Instead of moving the model or asking her not to touch it, he turned and slapped her hand.

His little angel squeaked in pain "No hit!" She ordered the Moff. "Use words!"

Vader used the Force to pull his daughter away from the shelf and Tarkin. He knelt and his little angel rushed into his arms. She buried her face into his neck, coming close to knocking her new hat off.

He knew she was confused by Tarkin's reaction since he never hit her; he only swatted her rear end for purposeful, warned, disobedience.

"Bad!" she declared angrily after she had calmed down, pointing at Tarkin.

"Lord Vader, I insist that you never bring your brat into my office again." Tarkin spat.

"One would think that with children of your own, you would understand that for some years they will touch anything they please." Vader said coolly.

Tarkin glared at him. "That's what nannies, governesses, and nanny droids are for," he sneered. "I suggest you acquire one if you cannot keep your brat reined in."

Vader stood, straightening to his full height, his tone icy with suppressed fury. "Have care how you treat my daughter Tarkin. I am the Emperor's heir and she is mine; you will treat her with the respect that comes with her position. She may one day be your Empress and I would not wish to be in your boots should you make an enemy of her."

Tarkin's face reddened. "I would rather be blown to space dust than have her as my Empress!" he spat.

Vader took a step towards Tarkin, holding his daughter a little tighter. "Choose your words carefully Tarkin. Some words have a way of coming to pass." With that Vader spun on his heels and marched out of Tarkin's office, headed for his temporary quarters where he could calm himself. The Emperor would be most displeased if he strangled Tarkin. The man was the most efficient overseer this project had had so far even if he was pompous and arrogant.

He entered his temporary quarters, nodded to Rigalish and entered the sleeping area. Once inside he set his daughter on the bed before laying down. Part of him hoped that Tarkin would learn his lesson as far as Lady Vader was concerned. But a bigger part of him hoped that this would be the beginning of something bigger.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


End file.
